Karen Pirie cast: Who appears in the ITV show?

The Sun

21-07-2025

LAUREN Lyle is back for a second series of the Scottish murder-mystery whodunnit Karen Pirie.
The gritty cop drama is produced by Line of Duty bosses and follows Detective Inspector Karen Pirie, freshly promoted after the events of series one.
What is Karen Pirie about?
Based on crime writer Val McDermid 's novels, the new series is adapted from the Scottish novelist's 2008 page-turner, A Darker Domain.
The first was based on Val 's novel The Distant Echo.
Teenager Rosie Duff was found brutally murdered in the Scottish university town of St Andrews in 1996 and three drunken students were the prime suspects.
In the second season, Karen is put in charge of an infamous cold case from the 80s that has gained fresh scrutiny from senior police, the media, and the victim's relatives.
In 1984, Catriona Grant, the daughter of a wealthy local oil tycoon, was abducted, along with her infant son.
The ransom notes that followed stirred up a huge press storm, but the culprits were never traced and neither Catriona nor her son were seen again.
But when, in the present day, a body is found with an undeniable link to the historic crime, Karen and her team must discover the truth under intense personal and professional pressure.
Here's a look at the case who will be looking at uncovering the truth in the second series of Karen Pirie.
Lauren Lyle as DS Karen Pirie
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Outlander star Lauren Lyle again takes on the role of DC Karen Pirie.
Lauren spent a great deal of time discovering her character with the best-selling author of the book, Val and with a detective she met.
In the books, Karen is unfashionable and odd, and doesn't really mind what she looks like because her main focus is her job.
That is why Lauren worked closely with costume designer Lesley Abernethy to make her look humble but cool at the same time.
To get into character, she also explained how she got to understand the plot and the case like a detective.
She said: "I read the scripts hundreds of times.
"Like a detective, I got huge pieces of paper that I taped together and put on my wall, with details of the whole case.
'It's so complicated that I had to make sure I understood it, so I kept referencing back to this map on my wall.
"There are so many suspects and I had to walk into each scene remembering if Karen really did suspect them or if she secretly trusted them.'
Lauren appeared in Broken, alongside Sean Bean, in 2017, and played Jade Antoniak in Vigil.
She has played Marshall in Outlander since 2017.
Chris Jenks as DC Jason Murray
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The Sex Education star is back again.
Portraying DC Jason Murray, Chris explained how his character brings humour to the show and how his relationship with Karen evolves through the episodes.
He said: "Jason is really well-intentioned and good-natured, but just doesn't quite get things right a lot of the time.
"He's desperately trying to hit the mark, but he just misses it.
"He's maybe not the brightest detective on the team, but he kind of makes up for it in his hard work and through his relationship with Karen - they develop into a really good team and she helps him find his stride.
"That relationship builds through the series - at first, they don't really see eye to eye and she's quite frustrated that she's been given such a potentially useless member of the team!
"But he really shows his qualities as they move on and eventually he comes into his own, and really stands up for himself in the later episodes."
Chris explained Jason to be a sort of mummy's boy who loves working out in the gym and enjoys doing basic things in life too such as going out and dating.
Zach Wyatt as DS Phil Parhatka
Zach Wyatt is known for his roles in The Witcher: Blood Origin, Blithe Spirit and Urban Myths.
Now he takes on the role of detective Phil Parhatka, who was supposed to be promoted, but Karen took the position instead.
Zach said: "He's a very diligent, driven detective - this job is all he has ever wanted to do and he's consumed by his work, he takes it very seriously but at a healthy level."
Who else is in the second series?
Who else is in the second series of Karen Pirie?
James Cosmo (Braveheart) plays oil tycoon Sir Broderick Grant, while Julia Brown (The Last Kingdom) is victim Catriona Grant, daughter of Sir Broderick.
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When is Karen Pirie season 2 released?
The second series of Karen Pirie started at 8pm on ITV on Sunday, July 20.
There are three episodes in the series, with the remaining two airing on Sunday, July 27 and Sunday, August 3.
All episodes are available to stream on ITVX.